


Inextinguishable

by GrayWardenSuledin



Series: Indestructible [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura (Voltron) - Freeform, Angst, Character Death, Coran (Voltron) - Freeform, Hunk (Voltron) - Freeform, Hurt No Comfort, Kind of happy ending, Lots of Angst Though, M/M, Pidge (Voltron) - Freeform, Shiro (Voltron) - Freeform, mentions of - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-22 05:07:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20868671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrayWardenSuledin/pseuds/GrayWardenSuledin
Summary: After a mission ends badly, Keith must pick himself back up after the death of a team mate.





	Inextinguishable

**Author's Note:**

> If you have read Indestructible, this is a continuation of that. If not, you should go read it. 
> 
> Not super necessary to have read it though. Red is caught in an explosion saving a planet and Lance doesn't make it. 
> 
> This is the angsty timeline where Lance is actually dead. I have another story that is him surviving through the explosion.

"You were supposed to protect him!" Keith yells. He's alone in the hanger of the Red Lion. Well, mostly alone.   
Red sits in front of him, staring with blank yellow eyes.   
She doesn't have any external damage at all from the explosion, she just sits there and looks pristine.   
Keith thinks back to after the explosion. The coms had been knocked out from Red and the Lions sped toward their fallen friend. Keith could feel it, somewhere inside, that something was horribly wrong. A pain he couldn't explain.   
And when they got Red back to the castle, silent as a grave, Keith already knew he didn't want to go into the cockpit.   
It didn't stop him from rushing in anyway. The smell of iron permeated everything. The image of Lance's body will forever be burned into Keith's brain.   
Coran and Allura ended up doing most of the work. The retrieval of the body and cleaning up the mess it had left behind.  
Hunk had taken one small look at the blood covered cockpit and retreated far from the hanger.   
Shiro was still too weak to do much of anything.  
Pidge had clung to Keith, both of their eyes wide as they looked at the gore that was the Red Lions pilot.  
His dad never had a body. They never recovered it from the burning house. Just told Keith he was gone and handed him his dad's helmet.   
Shiro didn't have a body either. Both times he disappeared. He was just gone.   
Keith thinks he understands why a body is needed for closure. There's no chance of the person being alive if there is a body. No false hope they'll come home.   
Keith was mostly useless as he gripped Pidges arm.  
So Allura and Coran were left to take Lance's body away, clean up the lions inside and help as much as they could with the grieving humans.   
And now, Red sits in front of him, completely whole.  
So unlike the rest of Voltron.  
The team hasn't smiled in weeks. The castle is almost completely silent. They go on missions but it's harder being one lion down. It's also quiet.   
No banter goes back and forth over the coms. No random video calls to talk about something interesting one of them saw.   
The heart of Voltron is gone and they can all feel it.   
Keith screams as he throws his helmet into the nearest wall. "You were supposed to keep him safe!"  
He can feel a rumble in the back of his mind from Black. Red doesn't really talk to him anymore, not since Lance became her pilot.   
Black is pushing the thought into his mind though. 'Tried' is the message he's receiving.   
"You could have tried harder." Is his immediate response, voice full of venom and pain.   
'Proud' is the next one. 'Saved planet. What he wanted.'  
"He also wanted to get home. To see his family again! You let him do this. You knew he would di-" he cuts himself off with a sob. "The team needs him." He finally whispers.  
He can feel Red's eyes on him. Watching as he breaks down.   
Keith falls to his knees, hands covering his face. He tries to stifle the sobs but the hanger is empty and it just echos around them.   
"You were supposed to protect him." It's broken now.   
The room is silent besides Keith's cries and he hates it.  
The room is silent. The castle is silent. The team is silent. The entire universe feels empty now.  
"Wow Mullet, didn't know the cared so much."  
Keith's head shoots up at the voice, distorted as it might be. Red's eyes are glowing and sitting on her paw, like he had no care in the world, was Lance.   
Well, almost. He was mostly transparent and his voice sounded like he was speaking through a microphone.   
But it was him and for a moment, Keith forgot to breathe.   
Lance was by his side in an instant. It took Keith a moment to realize what he was seeing. Lance was a projection, created through Red.   
"Man, are you ok?" Lance reaches for him but stops before he can actually touch him. "I, uhm, didn't know you would do that. Sorry." Lance looks away.   
Keith finally takes a deep breath as he stares at Lance. "How are you here?"   
"Oh, uhm, Red took my conciousness, my soul, into her and the astral plane." Lance says, looking at Red.  
Keith can only glare at the Lion.   
"Don't do that." Lance's voice breaks through the silence. "I knew what would happen. I chose this."   
"You _chose_ this?!" Keith shouts. "You chose to _die_! Why would you do that!"   
Lance doesn't look surprised at Keith's outburst. "I _chose_ to help an innocent planet. I _chose_ to save my team, my friends."   
Keith takes a shuddering breath. "We could have figured something out."  
"Not fast enough. All the Lions knew this, and Red knew she was the only one fast enough to deal with it. She told me what would happen." Lance says.   
"And you didn't even hesitate to throw yourself into danger." Keith sighs. He looks defeated. "I think you would have fit the Blade better than me."  
"Victory or death." Lance says with a smile. "There was no debate. It had to be done."  
"Lance, the team still needs you." Keith can't help the shudder in his voice.   
"No they don't. You're all smart and capable. You'll learn to work with a new paladin." Lance says this easily. It breaks something more inside Keith.   
"You're not replaceable, Lance." Keith growls out. "You are an important part of this team and I can't believe you just did that without consulting us. Without consulting me."   
"Because you've never done _anything_ rash without consulting your superior." Lance gives him a pointed look. "I knew you'd all be ok together."   
"But we need you. I need you. I can't lead this team without you." Keith looks away at that.   
"Sure you can." Lance smiles at Keith, "Just not as stylishly. You always had issues with razzle dazzle."  
Keith almost smiles at that.   
Lance sighs slightly. "You're not a bad leader. A little headstrong and stubborn, but not bad. And you're not alone. Shiro's almost back to 100% and Allura is always there to help. Plus, you have Hunk, Pidge, and Coran. Let them help."  
"I'll try." Keith looks away for a moment before meeting Lance's eyes. "Will I be able to talk to you again? Like this?"  
Lance doesn't look away but his smile falters. "No, this, this was a one time thing. You were rejecting the Lions and the team. We figured," gesturing to Red, "you needed something else."  
Keith tries to stop the tears welling in his eyes but fails. They slowly fall down his cheeks. "I'll miss you." He says.  
"I know. I'll miss you too. All of you. Please be there when my family is told. You don't have to say anything but please be there."  
"I will. I promise." Keith answers immediately.  
"I'll always be here though, looking out for you all. Red is a good listener if you ever need anything." Lance's smile is sad as he looks up at Red. "She did the best she could to protect me. Don't be mad at her."  
"I'll try to remember that." Keith looks up at Red as well. "Sorry I yelled at you. I didn't mean it."  
"Goodbye Keith." The voice is a whisper and when Keith looks around, the hanger is empty again.   
Red sits there, motionless once more.  
"Keith." He hears Shiro call his name. "Keith? There you are. Should have known you'd be here."  
Keith looks at the entrance to the hanger. Shiro is standing there with everyone else standing behind him.   
"We, uhm, we want to have a memorial. For Lance." Hunk says, timidly, partially hiding behind Shiro.   
Keith thinks for a moment. He can almost feel Red's eyes on him. "I think he would like that." Keith says, a little hesitantly.   
The group seems to release the tension in unison. Keith had lashed out at them before over this, he doesnt blame them for being worried.   
"Ok, let's get started." Shiro says. He has a small smile on his face as he leads everyone away from the hanger.   
Keith takes a last look at Red before following after them.  


* * *

  
  
Things got easier as time went by. A few months after Lance's death, Keith stepped down as Black Paladin and returned to Red. Shiro returned to Black and the team almost felt whole again.   
Keith decided he would probably never leave Red. There was a comfort in her presence. A confidence he hadn't felt before when he flew. He could sometimes feel giddy joy after completeing a difficult maneuver or a hard mission.   
Years went by and Allura succeeded Shiro when he finally retired. Matt came in to be the new Yellow Paladin when Hunk and Shay decided to travel the universe to be better chefs.   
Eventually, Keith and Allura were the only ones left of the original team. They got new teammates, adapted to living in peacetime, enjoyed spending time with the others when it was available.   
Keith kept going though. Always finding new causes to fight for.   
Before he knew it, a lifetime passed. Shiro passed away in his sleep. Pidge did their own autopsy and deemed it a natural death.   
It was sad but they were getting older now.   
Voltron disbanded, it wasn't needed. All the Lions but Red stayed with Allura and Coran on the castle ship.   
Red would be with Keith until the end.   
And even then, she waited for him. One day, he woke up in the astral plane. He hadn't been there in decades but it hadn't change.  
"Nice of you to finally join us, mullet." Keith spun around at the familiar voice. Even after all this time, he would recognize that voice anywhere.   
Standing a few feet away was Lance. He looked no older than 18, when he had died.  
"Lance?" Keith's voice broke.  
Lance surged forward and wrapped his arms around Keith. "Welcome home, Keith."   
Keith could see Shiro over Lance's shoulder. Beyond Shiro, more people he hadn't really ever met. He could recognize Zarkon and Alfor, the others he assumed were the rest of the original Paladins.   
All of them look young and vibrant. Like no time has passed at all.  
"But, how?" Keith pulls back to look at Lance.  
"The Lions take our souls when we die. They cleanse them somehow. Zarkon wasn't really evil, just corrupted by the void. Here, it's the best of ourselves."  
"Will the others be here?" Keith asks.  
"Eventually." Shiro has joined them. "When their time comes. Some wont be here for a while though."   
"But we'll be here, waiting for when they do." Lance is smiling and how Keith has missed that smile.   
When Shiro pats Keith's shoulder, he doesnt even protest. He's missed them both so much.   
He lets them introduce him to the others. Lets them explain everything that they can do, can create, in the astral plane.   
This will be their space, forever. And whatever they want, they can have.   
Keith smiles as they all talk, content to finally be home.   
  



End file.
